On 8/15/07, Susanne wrote:
> I have been scheduled to teach 6 to 7 elementary art
> classes a day, grades 1 to 5 (approx. 260-300 kids
> altogether), each week for the past three years at my
> current school....I love teaching art, but have become
> exhausted and am probably experiencing burnout. I was
> wondering if this work load is normal. Any help? Advice?
Unfortunately, teachers of all of the arts are treated this way and it is literally
inhuman. The way arts educators are treated is comparable to the way
imigrants to the U.S. were treated in the early 20th century by wealthy business
owners (sweatshops, 12-hr days, 6-day work-weeks, etc) until the changes that
were wrought by unions and the two Roosevelt administrations. And here in the
early 21st century, a different version of that same inhumanity is occurring
widely.
BUT...this has been the arts educators, especially those who teach in elementary
schools, have always been treated (with a few happy exceptions, usually in more
wealthy suburban schools). Maaaaaany elementary music educators, for
instance, teach anywhere from 9 to 13 half-hour classes per school day. I once
came across a music educator in Alabama who say 2,300 students each week!!!!
Also, my experience (so far) has been that teachers' unions could care less
about the arts teachers. Why? Because, like the principals, maaaany of them
see arts classes as peripheral entertainment time while the 'real' teachers have
their needed break. Arts teachers, of course, do not need breaks because of
their 'lower class' status. So the primary purpose of arts teachers, according to
them, is to provide warehousing entertainment for students when the students
are not doing 'seriously important' learning.
And, the organizations of people that are involved in the arts education
enterprise have never been able to make a convincing case for the value of arts
learning to young human beings.
Brain research is beginning to change that, but it may take another 100 years
for that change to permeate the humongous and stultified educational
enterprise.
Sorry this has been so 'negative', but the truth itself, in this case, is based in the
black negative of ignorance.
Hopeful Directions? Cherish the look on the faces of children when they 'get'
some sense of expressing the emotions/feelings of their lives in self-created
designs, shapes, colors, and the like. It's a sign that their self-identity as
competent and expressive human beings has just been elevated, big time.
Are there art lovers in town who would like to be your volunteer assistant when
you teach or at the end of the day?
Also, get to know teachers of the other arts in your building and in other
elementary school buildings and assemble teaching load, stress, and illness
records (dated journals, doctor visits, etc.) and then begin to work on the non-
arts teachers, officers of you local teachers union, members of its contract
negotiation committee, parent and community organizations (taxpayers/voters),
and if necessary, a local newspaper reporter or talk-show host (not to complain
or whine, but to just describe what being an arts educator is like). Readers/
listeners can draw their own conclusions.
Well, anyway...good luck and be well.
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